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Show 1891.] ASSOCIATION OF GAMASIDS WITH ANTS. 645 I did not find this Uropoda in the nests of any other Ant, but Mr. Bostock has since found it in England in the nests of Formica fusca, where also it is found on the cocoons and in the nest. There was one very good nest of Camponotus herculeanus, nearly a thousand feet above Igls, which I kept as a kind of store-house for some time ; the tree had been cut down near the ground and the greater part of the stump was beneath the surface or beneath the fallen debris of the forest. I used to dig and cut down into the centre of this nest, take home parts for examination, and carefully put back and cover up the remainder. In this way I kept the Ants in it for some considerable time, and as long as the Ants remained the Gamasids were to be found there; but at last the Ants seemed to get tired of being so frequently disturbed, at any rate they abandoned the nest, and from that time the Gamasids vanished also. I could not find any more. I also frequently examined other abandoned nests, but I never found the Gamasids in them except possibly a single specimen once or twice. It will thus be seen that I have found seven species of Gamasince and two of Uropoda in Ants' nests (one species previously found by Berlese), and that two other species have been found by others ; that none of these have been found elsewhere ; and that, so far as has been ascertained, each Gamasid was associated with one or two particular species of Ants only. I did not find any other Acarina in the nests except a few Oribatidae, which were in much larger numbers on other stumps where the Ants were not present. From the above observations I come to the following conclusions:- 1. That there is an association between various species of Gamasina? and certain Ants. 2. That one species of Gamasid usually associates with one or two special species of Ant only, or at least preferentially, although this may be a little affected by the presence or absence of the Ant in different localities. 3. That the Gamasids found in Ants' nests are not usually to be found elsewhere, except probably rare and scattered specimens on careful search. 4. That the Gamasids usually abandon the nest if the Ant does so. 5. That the Gamasids live upon friendly terms with the Ants, who do not attack them and even show signs of taking care of them. 6. That the Gamasids are not true parasites and do not reside upon the bodies of the Ants. 7. That, in the cases investigated, the Gamasids do not kill or injure the Ants or their young. 8. That the Gamasids will eat the dead Ants. 9. That the Gamasince are not improbably either scavengers or else messmates sharing the feast off any insects which the Ants may kill. , . 10. That we do not know what^the Uropodince teed on nor the object of their presence in the nests. |
